No Better Mouse Trap

The Play House likes Steinbeck's classic just the way it is.

Director Seth Gordon sticks close to the source material for the Cleveland Play Houses production of John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men, which opens tonight. The classic Depression-era tale about a pair of drifters kicking around the Dust Bowl often loses some of its grit onstage. Gordon says following Steinbecks very linear and character-based novel made adaptation easy. It translates well into realistic drama, he says.

The key, says Gordon, is the central characters. Of Mice and Men centers on the friendship between two physical and mental opposites: restless, diminutive George and lumbering giant Lennie. Personality and appearance create the world of the play, says Gordon. Utter survival at the expense of human kindness was often the order of the day. Gordon says the storys unnerving realism still resonates with audiences  70 years after it was written. Human issues are just as relevant now as they ever were, he says. This story remains one needing to be told.
Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 4 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 & 8 p.m. Starts: Jan. 5. Continues through Jan. 28